This invention relates to a door lock device with an automatic door closing mechanism which can automatically close a door in an incompletely (half) closed condition to a completely (fully) closed condition.
The completely (fully) closed condition of a door of a vehicle can be obtained by engaging a striker which constitutes a body-side member of the vehicle with a latch which constitutes a portion of a door lock device provided on a back door or a side door. As shown in FIG. 8, the latch 1 is disposed rotatably about a pin 2 and is always forcibly directed in one direction by receiving a biasing force of a spring 3. The latch 1 includes an engaging groove 5 which receives a striker 4, a first pawl receiving portion 6 which is formed on the periphery of the latch 1 and establishes the door completely (fully) closed condition, and a second pawl receiving portion 7 which establishes the door incompletely (half) closed condition. A protrusion 9 of a pawl 8 is engageable with one of both the pawl portions 6, 7.
The pawl 8 is rotatable about a pin 9xe2x80x2 which works as the center of rotation and the pawl 8 is always forcibly rotated in the direction toward the latch 1 by means of a spring 10. The pawl 8 is movable in the counter-clockwise direction corresponding to the movement of a pin 11 of a lift lever which belongs to an open system of a door lock device.
In the door opened position, the engaging groove 5 is rotated in the right direction as seen in FIG. 8 and the protrusion 9 of the pawl 8 comes into contact with an outer peripheral surface 12 of the latch 1. Upon the door closing manipulation, the striker 4 enters the inside of the engaging groove 5 and forcibly rotates the latch 1 in the counter-clockwise direction and hence, the protrusion 9 is engaged with the second pawl receiving portion 7 to establish the incompletely (half) closed condition, that is, the incompletely (half) latched condition of the door. Upon the further door closing manipulation, the protrusion 9 is engaged with the first pawl receiving portion 6 so as to establish the completely (fully) closed condition, that is, the completely (fully) latched condition (condition shown in FIG. 8).
In the above-mentioned door closing manipulation, when the manipulation force is weak or the like, a case that the door closing manipulation ends with the protrusion 9 of the pawl 8 held in the incompletely (half) closed condition in which the protrusion 9 of the pawl 8 is engaged with the second pawl receiving portion 7 may arise. Then, the door in the incompletely (half) condition is automatically shifted to the completely (fully) closed condition by means of a door closer mechanism.
Examples of this type of door closer are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 9607/1990, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 50045/1994 or Japanese Patent Publication No.2816804/1999.
In the above-mentioned conventional door lock device with an automatic door closing mechanism, in case the motor is stopped due to the disconnection an electric wire or the malfunction of the motor during the door closing operation, in the completely (fully) latched condition or right before the completely (fully) latched condition, a passive lever cannot return to the initial position and a free end portion of the passive lever is kept in contact with a latch lever and hence, the door opening operation becomes impossible.
To cope with such an emergency case, the Japanese Utility-Model Publication No. 2588852/1998 proposes a technique where a cable lever is made to face the latch lever in an opposed manner and the cable lever and the motor are connected with each other by a cable. In emergency, the cable is deflected by using a cancel lever and the latch lever can forcibly move the cable lever in the direction toward the initial position by the door opening operation.
However, such a provision increases the number of parts including an erroneous operation prevention mechanism of the cancel lever and hence, it is disadvantageous in terms of cost. Further a space which allows the deflection of the cable becomes necessary and hence, it is difficult to efficiently make use of the limited space.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a door lock device with an automatic door closing mechanism which can overcome the drawbacks of the above-mentioned prior art.
To overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present invention adopts technical means which is substantially constituted such that a bracket fixedly secured to a door panel is disposed along an indoor trim in a spaced apart manner and a passive lever is rotatably supported on the bracket, a nut which is threadedly engaged with a shaft portion which makes the passive lever rotatably supported on the bracket is positioned at the indoor trim side.
In case of emergency such as a case that the door opening operation is impossible, this provision peels off a part or the whole of the indoor trim, then removes the nut from the shaft portion, and then removes the shaft from the bracket so that the movement of the passive lever is set free and the contact between the passive lever and the latch lever is released whereby the door can be opened.
To be more specific, the present invention provides a door closer device which is characterized in that the device comprises a door lock which includes a latch and a pawl and further includes a latch lever which is fixedly secured to a rotary shaft of the latch, a bracket which is supported in a fixed relationship relative to the door panel, a passive lever which is rotatably supported by the bracket and has a free end portion which is capable of coming into contact with the latch lever, and a drive source which rotates the passive lever, and a nut which is threadedly engaged with a shaft portion which rotatably supports the passive lever to the bracket and is positioned at the indoor trim side and is removable from the shaft portion.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become further apparent from the following detailed explanation.